BackHow to get the most from your food
Some tips that can help enhance the nutrient value of food
Premium
There is almost always something you can do at every stage to enhance the nutrient value of your food—be it chopping, cooking or storing.
For instance, nuts and seeds, rich in omega fatty acids, are best preserved in the refrigerator. During summer, nuts stored at room temperature can turn rancid. Chickpea flour and semolina are better preserved if roasted lightly, cooled and then stored. They will not attract mould and fungi.
Soaking and straining long-grain rice for 15 minutes prior to cooking ensures it cooks more quickly, and the grains stay separate and long. Alternatively, adding a dash of lime juice to basmati rice while cooking helps keep the grains separate and fluffy.
Sudhair A. James of the College of Chemical Sciences, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and his team have developed a way to cook rice that could cut the number of calories absorbed by the body by about 50%. They presented the research findings in March at the 249th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Denver, US.
How does this help reduce calories? The oil enters the starch granules during cooking, making them resistant to the action of digestive enzymes. This means that the body ends up absorbing fewer calories.
Slower-to-digest foods provide sustained energy and do not end up as stored fat. In effect, this cooking technique seems to have had the same effect that fibre has, of slowing the breakdown of starch molecules.
Clearly, the nutrient world is a rich resource of physical and chemical actions and interactions that can have a impact on the value of food.
Here are some tips that can help enhance the nutrient value of food:
u The nutrient value of tomatoes and carrots can be increased by grating, puréeing and cooking. These methods ensure better absorption of the lycopene antioxidant present in tomatoes and carrots.
Papaya juice helps soften the tough connective tissues in meat. A small wooden mallet or hammer is effective in pounding meat prior to cooking and tenderizing the tissue, reducing cooking time and making it less chewy.
u Iron from foods is better absorbed in the presence of vitamin C-based foods like lime juice and tomatoes. So add lime juice to meals.
u Cooking rice or upma in chicken, vegetable stock, light coconut or almond milk increases the food’s nutrient value because lipids or fats in the stock make the carbohydrates break down slowly and become more resistant to digestion.
u Blanching rather than cooking leafy greens like spinach and fenugreek helps retain their nutrients, like folate and B-group vitamins.
u Baking a potato with skin is better than boiling and deep-frying it with or without the skin. Boiling, deep-frying and mashing potatoes releases their starch faster for digestion, in turn speeding up fat storage. Potato skins are a rich source of iron, but care must be taken to clean them thoroughly and avoid consuming those skins that have green tints—these could be carcinogenic.
Madhuri Ruia is a nutritionist and Pilates expert. She runs InteGym in Mumbai, which advocates workouts with healthy diets.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
